Factors That Impact Knowledge Dissemination in Projects

Abstract

Knowledge dissemination, as part of the knowledge exchange process, is particularly challenging in any project environment due to the temporary nature of projects. Although several studies in the earlier literature studied the factors that influence knowledge exchange, very few examined them from the 'knowledge push' perspective. This study aims, therefore, to highlight the critical factors that impact knowledge dissemination in a project environment. This empirical research found ten critical factors, such as individual experience, trust, source credibility, shared understanding, motivation, and articulability. These individual factors seem to have a dominant influence on knowledge dissemination from the view point of the knowledge source. OPSOMMINGKennisverspreiding, as deel van die kennis uitruilproses, is besonders uitdagend in enige projek omgewing as gevolg van die tydelike aard van die projekte. Alhoewel verskeie studies in die literatuur die faktore wat kennis uitruiling beïnvloed, bestudeer het, is daar min studies wat dit vanuit ʼn "kennisuitstoot" perspektief oorweeg. Hierdie artikel lig dus om die kritiese faktore wat kennis verspreiding in ʼn projek omgewing beïnvloed, uit. Hierdie empiriese navorsing het tien faktore identifiseer, onder andere individuele ervaring, vertroue, bronbetroubaarheid, gedeelde verstaan, motivering en artikuleerbaarheid. Hierdie individuele faktore blyk om ʼn dominante invloed op die kennis verspreiding vanuit die oogpunt van kennisbron te hê.

The mediation role of the PMO in the transfer of knowledge between projects – a case study of five PMOs

“…KM processes include creation, capturing, transferring and reusing of knowledge (Owen et al, 2004;Sokhanvar et al, 2014). Knowledge articulability is the ability of the source to transfer knowledge in a clearly expressed way (Prinsloo et al, 2017), or the extent to which knowledge can be articulatedverbalized, written or drawn (Bresnen et al, 2003;Cummings and Teng, 2003;Fernie et al, 2003). Cummings and Teng (2003) state that KT success increases as the articulability of knowledge increases, since articulable knowledge is more easy to transfer than less-articulable knowledge.…”

An Exploratory Case Study to Validate a Method for Investigating the Role of Pmos in Knowledge Transfer

“…In this case, 'partners' refers to the various team members across projects in a PBO. Prinsloo, Van Waveren and Chan [44] list trust as one of the factors that impact knowledge dissemination in projects. Trust is essential for collaboration; it determines knowledge accessibility, and serves as the very foundation on which interaction takes place [45], [46].…”

“…Effective KT among project(s) team members in a project environment in which teams are temporary in nature is very challenging, since trust and shared understanding cannot be as easily built over a short period of time as with a permanent team [44]. This is based on the notion that "interpersonal trust is a prerequisite for knowledge sharing and transfer" [27].…”

“…Furthermore, PMOs decide on the KT mechanisms to be used for tacit and explicit knowledge to transfer knowledge effectively. To facilitate the transfer of tacit knowledge, PMOs establish a mentoring and coaching programme to support the individuals in building their experience of completing tasks in projects, or in the ability to express themselves clearly when sharing knowledge with other team members [44]. The articulability of received knowledge influences the PMO's mediation role by demanding that different systems and tools, such as ICT, be used for different levels of knowledge articulability.…”

Project Management Competences and Sustainable Development in Higher Education: Case Studies from Two Spanish Public Universities

“…For the same meaning, some researchers use the word dissemination [30] • Knowledge application: [31] believe that the combined effect of proper knowledge acquisition and efficient knowledge application is a key to maximizing the performance of the organizations. It is also referred to as knowledge exploitation [32] and knowledge use [33] In the knowledge society, research universities are key institutions for social and economic development, being characterized by their global mission, research intensity, TRS roles, diversified funding, worldwide recruitment, increasing complexity, relationship with public administrations and industry and global collaboration with other universities, achieving it through focusing on the discovery of new knowledge and the development of the next generation of scholars, decision makers and entrepreneurs [34].…”